Identifier: birditsformfunct00beebuoft (find matches)
Title: The bird, its form and function
Year: 1906 (1900s)
Authors: Beebe, William, 1877-1962
Subjects: Birds -- Anatomy Birds -- Physiology
Publisher: New York : Holt
Contributing Library: Gerstein - University of Toronto
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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for the purpose mentioned above, they soon found other uses for them. In a woodpecker we will find very large salivary glands on each side of the mouth. These secrete a sticky liquid which covers the long, many-barbed tongue and is an efficient aid in picking out insects from their holes in the bark and wood of trees. Organs of nutrition in 19 Many birds carry in their beaks the grasses and twigs with which they construct their nests, and if a sticky fluid helped them to get their food, why would it not also soften the twigs and make them easy to bend? Not only this, but certain birds, such as our Chimney Swifts, are provided with saliva in such quantities, and of such tenacious consistency, that the entire nest—a mosaic of
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Fig. 91.—Nest of Esculent Swiftlet (edible birds nest) composed entirely of saliva. small twigs, each about an inch in length—is set in saliva cement, and fastened to the vertical side of a chimney or charred tree-trunk by the same means. Even this is only a step, or link, in the direction of the extreme usefulness of saliva, for the little East Indian birds known as Swiftlets (one of which ornithologists call Collocalia fuciphaga) make their nests entirely of saliva or mucus. The second part of the scientific name, which means an eater of seaweed, refers to the idea formerly held, that I 20 The Bird the nests consisted entirely of half-digested seaweed, but it has been proved that this is not the case. The homes of these birds are the edible birds-nests held in such esteem by Chinese gourmands. The Tongue If we had a long series of birds tongues before us, we would be surprised at the great variety of shapes and sizes. Observing the good-sized tongues of sparrows and other small birds, we

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